Button
by Daqueus
Summary: OMG! I can't believe I wrote fluff! What can I say, five yr olds, hot chocolate and Wolvie...


Button.  
  
She was found crying by the stairs. She was one of the younger children that lived at Xavier's.  
  
Logan had been doing his usual patrol of the school, half from insomnia and half from the genuine desire to protect.  
  
It was the scent of grief that first got him walking over to her.  
  
She was a small girl of five, with jaw length brown hair and a round dumpling face. She was called Lori or Laura or something.Lauren, that was it. Usually Lauren was quiet and reserved with a sombre little face. He knew she liked Ororo and was usually found sat in her lap, or on somebody else she liked, like Kitty.  
  
Logan called her Button. He didn't know why, just decided the pet name suited her. For some reason he liked.well, maybe 'liked' was a strong word. Tolerated slightly more than the other young ones was better. She didn't scream, shout and run around like the other children, which tended to give Logan a headache and a bad mood. She just sat there, sweet as anything on somebody's lap, usually reading out loud. This morning he had caught Scott reading her Cat In The Hat. He had a look of contentment that was rare these days with the loss of Jean.  
  
Her mutation was that she could control water, and it was predicted that later in her life she would acquire the ability to change herself into liquid. The mutation manifested after she had woken up after hearing a sound one night and found her parent's murdered in their beds. They too were mutants.  
  
And now here she was, six months later, still plagued by sleepwalking, night terrors and general sleepless nights, hunched in a ball by the stairs crying for her mother.  
  
It broke Logan's heart.  
  
Not quite knowing what to do in such a situation he decided that the best option was to gently coax her from crying. So he sat down beside her.  
  
"Button? You alright there?" he asked in the most gentle voice he could manage.  
  
She stopped crying for a moment to shift her position and look at him. Her face was red and blotchy and tear marks streaked her face. She shook her head.  
  
"I saw them again" was all she said. Logan knew what she meant.  
  
The first week Lauren had arrived she started sleep walking and reliving her memories of finding her parents. She was usually found in a heap crying hysterically. Ororo had found her and comforted her, then when she was calm enough had carried her upstairs and put her back to bed. She had then slept through the morning.  
  
Lauren went back to crying and Logan decided to scoop her up into his lap and comfort her. She sleepily sank into his hug, but still continued to cry.  
  
"You know I get bad dreams as well." Logan said quietly to her. "And they make me upset as well. Do you know what I find helps?" Lauren shook her head.  
  
"Hot chocolate." OK, so that wasn't strictly true, try a more alcoholic drink or seven like whiskey. "Would you like one? Might get you back to sleep again." Lauren wriggled in his lap to look at him. Her crying had stopped, and she surveyed him with a serious face.  
  
"But I just brushed my teeth. I'll get them all dirty again. And Ororo told me that you should brush your teeth before you go to bed so they're all clean for when you wake up."  
  
Logan chuckled. "Well, it can be a little secret between you and me, okay?"  
  
Lauren nodded in agreement and Logan stood up with her still in his arms.  
  
They walked over to the kitchen and Logan flipped on the light switch, and set Lauren down on the counter.  
  
Ten minutes later Lauren had a large mug of hot chocolate in her pudgy hands, and was complaining of the kitchen counter being uncomfortable to sit on, so Logan and Lauren relocated to the Rec Room where there were sofas at least.  
  
Logan settled himself in one of the sofas and Lauren again sat in his lap while she sipped at her hot chocolate.  
  
"Why do you have bad dreams Mr Logan?" she asked after some time.  
  
Logan was quiet for a little while whilst he thought of an appropriate answer for her.  
  
"Because I'm like you and had somebody do a nasty things to me."  
  
"What was it?" concern in her five year old voice.  
  
"Just.bad things." he answered back lamely.  
  
"Oh, okay."  
  
Lauren finished her mug and proudly announced "All gone!" and then snuggled back into Logan's chest.  
  
"You sleepy Button?" he asked  
  
"No" came the reply, although he could tell that she was starting to doze off. In fact, so was he.  
  
"Do you want to go back to bed then?"  
  
"No. I like it here." Was the response.  
  
For some reason that made Logan feel.happy? Paternal? Content for once in his life? He wasn't sure, but he knew he didn't want to rouse the sleepy bundle of five year old sat in his lap.  
  
And so he sat there with her.  
  
The next morning Scott was the first one up and running in the mansion and decided he was going to watch the morning CNN broadcast in the rec room before the kids got hold of the remote and then it would be non stop cartoons for the rest of the day.  
  
The sight that greeted him was Logan stretched full length on one of the sofa, with little Lauren Abbotson laying on top of him, both fast asleep, with one of Logan's arms wrapped protectively around her.  
  
It was so sweet it made Scott's teeth ache. It would also be ammunition for weeks to know that the Big Bad Wolverine TM was really a teddy bear with a big squooshy heart.  
  
He decided to close the doors and let them sleep, and then tell Ororo when she came down. She could better handle it than him. 


End file.
